The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of a strawberry plant, botanically known as Fragaria x ananassa of the Rosaceae family, and hereinafter referred to by the variety denomination ‘Wasatch’.
The new Fragaria x ananassa variety is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventors. The objective of the breeding program was to develop a new Fragaria x ananassa variety intended for the Midwestern and Northeastern USA, Ontario and Quebec, and the Pacific Northwest.
The new variety originated from a cross between female parent ‘Seascape’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,614) and male parent MSU 38 (unpatented)(itself the product of a cross between ‘Tribute’ (unpatented) and ‘Honeoye’ (unpatented)) made in a greenhouse at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. in March 2008. ‘Wasatch’ was first selected in the summer of 2009 from a family of 93 planted in an open field in Benton Harbor, Mich. It was re-evaluated in the same field the following season, and was originally designated as MSU 68.
Asexual propagation of the new Fragaria x ananassa variety by runners was performed at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. in the fall of 2010 where runners from the original mother plant were dug and transferred to a greenhouse. The potted plants were allowed to runner in the summer of 2011 and 2013, and the resulting daughter plants were rooted in sterilized soil. These plants were encouraged to go dormant each winter by leaving the greenhouse unheated.
Horticultural examination has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new variety was firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual propagation. The new variety propagates true-to-type.